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If you really don’t like fivers, don’t eat them

Janice Turner

Notebook

How odd that our see-through, crease-proof, space-age plastic £5 notes are made with tallow, a substance that evokes flickering candlelight in Wolf Hall. That rendered beef or mutton fat is used to make polymers is like discovering computer chips are made with “pewer”, a mix of dog faeces once used to tan leather.

The vegans are upset about the animal fat fivers. Even though they are not required to ingest them and could always ask for change in pound coins. Do they normally take such care to avoid animal by-products in daily life? Perhaps ask if a chair is leather before sitting down or whether stearic acid was used to make their bicycle tyres?